IN THE WORD DAILY
with Brother Rick
1 Timothy 1: 15
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came in the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief.
The two letters to Timothy
and the one to Titus are called the “Pastoral Epistles”. They contain
qualifications for ministers in the church and they contain principles for
pastoral care in the church. God has left nothing undone. The church and the
believers have everything they need doctrinally to conduct the affairs of God as a body and as individuals. The problems
come when man interferes with God's plan. Do you want to know why there are
twenty two different denominations of churches in your neighborhood? Because
man has interfered with God's plan. Everyone can't be right!! Do you want to
know why there is a church on every corner in this area? Because man has
interfered with the precepts dictated in the word of God. Do you want to know
why there are women in our pulpits, divorced men in authority, and yes, even
sodomites teaching and preaching the word of God in our churches? It's simple.
Man has interfered with the church doctrine that God has set before us. I am
not a Bible scholar or a rocket scientist, and it takes neither to understand
what God is trying to tell us in these short letters to Timothy and Titus. ALL
YOU HAVE TO DO IS READ IT AND BELEIVE IT. Even I can do that.
For example; 1Timothy 2: 11-
14 says, “Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I
suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in
silence. For Adam was first formed then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the
woman being deceived was in transgression.” Many of today's so called
female pastors, and by the way, there is no such creature as a woman preacher,
try to pervert these verses and say that the culture of the times dictates the
authority of the commandments. If that's the case, why did God go all the way
back to Genesis to give proof of the principle? The cultures were not the same
in Paul's day as they were in Adam's. Man has always had authority in the home,
in the tabernacle, in the temple, and in the church. Don't add to the
scriptures, just believe what it says, and leave pride at the house.
Next, 1 Timothy 3: 2 says, “A
bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of
good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;” The list goes on,
but I want to deal with one issue. The scripture says that one of the
qualifications for a bishop (pastor) is that he must be the husband of one wife.
This DOES NOT mean “husband of one wife at a time”, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Do you
really need God to tell you not to marry but one woman at a time. This
commandment is saying that a divorced man CANNOT pastor a church. How can a man
lead a church if he can't run his own home? He can't!!! How can a divorced man
preach and teach you how to have a successful marriage when he has failed in
his own? He can't!!! Your church is only as effective in the ministry of the
gospel as the individual homes of the people in it. These are simple and very
definite precepts for qualifications for ministry in the church, yet they are
perverted today in every way, because man feels he knows more than God.
Our text gives us two things
that are vital to the success of the minister. Paul led Timothy to the Lord and
left him in Ephesus and Asia
minor to perform the work of a pastor. In the text, we first see
the primary goal of the pastor. It is not to write books and become the media
celebrity that we see in the limelight today. Paul gives the primary goal in
the text. Christ Jesus came into the world to SAVE SINNERS. A biblical pastor
has a heart for lost souls. That is his job, to lead people to Jesus, and take
care of the flock once they are saved. If your pastor doesn't have time to
preach to the lost, he has wandered from his calling. Secondly, Paul reveals to
Timothy an attribute that will keep him on the right level with his people.
Paul says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; OF WHOM I
AM CHIEF.” Paul was not too big for his britches. He was able to
minister to the kings as well as the bum in the street. If Paul could humble
himself and witness to the lost in the streets, so could Timothy and so can you
and me. 1 Corinthians 9: 22 says, “To the weak became I as weak, that I
might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means
save some.” If your pastor is too big and famous to call on you when
you are sick, he's too big for God. If your pastor needs body guards to rush
him on and off the stage, he's too big for God. If your pastor is too busy to
pray with you and comfort you when you are hurting, friend, you need a new
pastor.
There are BIBLE
qualifications for the ministry. We have turned the work of God into a free for
all, and God is not in it. It must line up with the scriptures before God will
touch it.
Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Paul admits he was not worthy to
accept this calling, but I'm glad he did. God doesn't call the fit, he fits the
call.
